


The One Demon You Meet in Heaven

by Halcy (halcyonweekend)



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Alternate Universe - Afterlife
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 06:12:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4908397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halcyonweekend/pseuds/Halcy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kazuhira Miller is assassinated in his Alaskan home, rather than find the fires of hell or the clouds of heaven, a familiar face greets him on the other side [MGSV spoilers within].</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One Demon You Meet in Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> Ahh I've had this snippet of an idea stuck in my head since before MGS5 came out, if it's a little rushed I'm sorry, I just wanted to get this out there. Also the title is totally inspired by "5 People You Meet in Heaven". Alt title would've been Enemies in Fidelity. >w

There are plenty of stories told about the afterlife. They talk about fires of hell, the pearly gates of heaven, they talk about dying and becoming new in a different form, the emptiness in between, the old relatives, friends, comrades, all waiting for you. Problem with these stories, is that they're told by those who are still alive, so it doesn't hurt to take them with a grain of salt.

When Kazuhira Miller died, it was much less dramatic, and much more painful than he had ever thought it would be. The life that flashed before his eyes was as brief as his killer's work. He never even saw the guilty party's face. 

Even in life, he was left out of the loop, until it was much too late. Figures. 

It felt like sleeping, except the dreams, whether pleasant or nightmarish, would never stir you awake again. He could see now, in some sense of the word. It was a blank white emptiness, but not too far away, he could almost make out something. As he moved closer, he saw that it was a simple wooden desk, its surface chipped and worn, with two chairs on opposite sides. It was a stark contrast in a sea of nothing. He wondered if this is where all of his sins would be recounted, or maybe this was hell itself.

To wander the nothingness was appealing, but instead he took one of the empty seats. Nothing else appeared on the other side. Kaz folded his arms on the desk, resting his chin on top. Not a minute into death, and he was already tired. He closed his eyes.

Something scraped against the nothingness. Metal struck metal, and a flame could be felt.

Before he opened his eyes, he already decided that this was hell, and a much worse one than fire and brimstone. "So where's the brimstone? What, no horns and trident? I guess I was the unlucky bastard to meet the Devil in my waking hours, so instead I get nothing.."

"Kaz."

"Even when I'm dead you can't leave me alone. And here I thought I'd be free of you." He moved to push his seat back, but it remained rigidly still. When he tried to get up, he felt glued to his seat.

He tried his best to never meet the other's gaze, but it was impossible. A single piercing eye was all it took to still his fussing.

"I know you're angry. You have every right to be."

"Angry? I'm fucking furious. All I wanted was to live in peace, far, far away from that nasty business. Every single day I lived, and even now, I wish I had pulled that pin and blew us all to bits."

"Sometimes, I feel the same way."

"You don't get to act all sympathetic after all you've done. You may have gotten older, but you haven't gotten a bit wiser. So how does it feel? To be worm food? To finally get what was coming to you for more than 10 years?"

"I made a mistake. No, all I've made up until now, were mistakes. I thought what I did was better than what she wanted, but I can see now that it wasn't in the slightest."

"You can't just say you're sorry now and have it absolve you of all guilt. You left me." He reached across the table, grasping for the other's jacket. He couldn't reach far enough, instead slamming his hands on the table. "To take the heat, just so you could go off and do what? Get yourself killed. Did none of that mean anything to you? Did me busting my fucking ass day in and day out not mean worth a damn to you? Did I not do enough? Did I mean a thing to you? Of course not. You wanted your glory, your endless battles and battlefields. And look at what that earned you, a nice hot aerosol bath."

"Kaz, I..." Smoke wafted from chapped lips. Before he continued, he offered the cigar to the other. He refused. "I didn't die back in '99. Maybe I should have, but I didn't."

"He took care of Venom first, and then you. I heard the whole thing."

"You both thought he did, and I wouldn't have blamed you, but I didn't die. Not then." As he took another drag, he shed his coat. "I died much much later. After you."

"That...that can't be...?! How long has it been?!" It couldn't have been more than a few minutes ago, that he was napping on his recliner, one of the huskies by his side.

"Too long. I've seen my son grow almost as old as I. Saw him almost pull the trigger on himself too."

"Snake..." He wondered if Solid Snake was alright, especially after the last time they spoke. "He said he had a bad feeling about something, but he wasn't sure what..."

"From what I was told, David did a fine job of handling the Shadow Moses incident, and even helped another agent during the Big Shell incident, and of course, there was that whole thing with the Sons of the Patriots..." He knocked away some ashes. "As I said, it's been a long time."

"Then why are we speaking?" He could still feel himself stuck to the chair.

"Probably the only question I don't have the answer to."

"Then maybe you can enlighten me on the ones you do have the answers to."

"'Why did you leave me?' 'Was all the time we spent a waste?' 'Did you really care about me?' Are those the ones you want to know?"

"Oh so you're a fuckin' mind reader now. Just because we're both dead, doesn't mean I have to forgive you." He pounded the desk again, with the arm that he never lose. "I hate you, Snake. I hate the thought of you, I hate the sight of you. I'm glad you finally died, my only regret right now is that I wasn't the one to put the bullet in your head."

"All things considered, it's the way I should have gone." 

"You haven't even apologized. You've just been trying to get on my good side. You don't care about me, you never cared about me. You never cared about anyone but yourself. Maybe it was my fault, maybe I was too foolish. Who was I, just a former JSDF soldier, to try and put you in your place?" The ambush was one of the memories that had not yet been erased. "Of course I would be the scapegoat, and of course you would leave me with a facsimile, just to taunt me, to torture me. I loved him, like I would have loved you. He was a better Boss than you ever were."

"I thought about you, more than you ever knew."

"Liar."

"If that's the case, why would I sit here? Why, in all of this nothing, would there be a place for the two of us? What I didn't regret then, I regret now. Most of all, I regret leaving you." Boss flung the still lit cigar, the trail of smoke fading into nothing. "Venom, I envy him. He was there where I failed you, in every single way."

Suddenly what kept him still was gone, and he leapt over, finally getting some purchase. Hands gripped the lapels of his coat with shaking hands, knuckles turning white. He pulled Boss close, and where the space would be closed with a gentle, needy kiss, instead, bone crashed into flesh. Neither of them had a corporeal form, but it felt so real, he could feel teeth rake his knuckles, he could see him crash onto the floor, and when Boss turned to face him, licking the blood from his lips.

If there was a god watching, he was indeed a cruel one.

"I deserved that."

"Shut up!" Kaz jumped from his seat, speeding around the table to catch Snake before he could catch himself. He kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked. "All! You've ever done! Was lie!" It was nothing and everything that he had ever wanted. The stabbing blows to his midsection felt vicerally real, Snake trying to grab his foot to no avail, everything would be all for nothing. 

Snake, his form weakened but not weak, finally let up on letting up, rolling away from increasingly languid kicks, and he finally stood back up, shedding his brown trench. "You were always so stubborn." He placed a gentle hand on his midsection. "That's what I love about you."

Kaz rushed forward, throwing a punch that cost him. Before he could wind back to block, Snake grabbed his wrist and forearm, using the momentum of the swing, and slammed him onto the floor.  
Kaz wheezed. "Love? What you love is the ends to whatever goal you had, a goal I could've helped you reach..."

"I'm an old man, Kaz." He rasped. "The 60's were hell, the 70's were hell, and it didn't mean a damn thing. The dream is dead, as it should be." Snake extended a hand.

"The dream is dead, we're dead, what's left? Nothing." Kaz slapped the hand away, and remained on the floor panting. "Even now, I'm here just to suffer. I did everything for you, and I paid the price. At least let me serve my punishment in peace."

He closed his eyes, and again, his waking life flashed before his eyes. Rather than disjointed moments of pain, misery, and ultimately, isolation, everything came together like an old film, clips and snapshots of simpler times, and even the short time he spent with David, with Venom, with Chico, with Paz, with his mother, with his dream of finally making it.

Everything went silent, and then he heard distant roaring. 

He opened his eyes, and it was almost too much. It was the sound of waves crashing, while the water gently lapped at the shore.

"The sunsets are so pretty here..." The words almost brought tears to his eyes. Palms pressed against weary eyes, as he sat up.

"I'm not that kind of guy, Snake..." He looked over and saw Snake kicking off his shoes and sitting cross-legged in the sand.

"I know, but sometimes it's nice to just sit and watch the sunset...you know?" He let out a quiet chuckle, one almost lost to the sound of gulls flying above them.

Death means a lot of things to a lot of people; the loss of the only life one has, a crossing over from one life to the next, punishment, salvation and rewards. For the both of them, death meant something more than that. Death fulfilled what life could never hope to, the time needed to heal all wounds, and to erase all regrets.


End file.
